
form a very fragile ecosystem. With additional fertiliser, other plants,
springing from seeds blown in on the wind or brought in on walker’s boots,
are able to survive and thrive. These aggressive incomers out-compete
the mountain plants for resources and destroy them.
Exactly the same phenomenon occurs when people climb to mountain
summits to spread grandad’s ashes. Now that 70% of people are
cremated, people compete with each other to do something ’special’.
Grandad cannot just be laid to rest in his favourite rose bed. His urn must
be dragged up a mountain where he becomes unwelcome fertiliser.
Those in charge of these delicate habitats are begging people to think
twice about this. So many visitors are now bringing ash with them that it
can be inches thick in some places. The plants are smothered. The
ecosystem is dead. In other countries, the problem is just as bad.
Everest is now so popular as a destination that tons of human excrement
are left there every year. No-one is willing to bring it back down.
And then there are cigarette butts. I have never found a place, no matter
how remote, that is not contaminated by dog-ends. The Ring of Brodgar,
an ancient stone circle in Orkney that has been held sacred for thousands
of years is thick with them. Would people stub out their cigarettes in the
aisle of a church? Probably not. But then they think of ’outside’ as a
limitless space where everything quietly disappears and is not their
problem. There is also, again, this bizarre belief that butts will biodegrade
so it is O.K. (even though illegal) to drop them. Totally wrong. The filters
in butts are made of plastic.
Unless removed, they sit in the soil for thousands of years, leaching their
toxins into the ground with unknown consequences. Some birds are
known to pick them up and use them as nest material. It may be that the
nicotine acts as an insecticide and reduces the number of parasites
feeding on the baby birds. Nobody is really sure. But this behaviour
shows how easy it is for birds to find butts in natural habitats. Next time
you are walking in Raleigh Park or Wytham Woods, look down at the
path. I guarantee that cigarette-butts will be there somewhere.
People are encouraged to go walking and climbing to improve their
mental and physical health. Standing ankle deep in piles of human
remains, banana skins and dog-ends is unlikely to have a positive effect
on either!
Linda Losito